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Why was this? Strictly a play to be able to charge a high premium for the "755" or was there some other reason?

The reason was twofold .
One was to get more money and two was to just be difficult in order to prove to the collectors that they were in control of what the collectors wanted and would pay for . In other words ego .
At the time there was no trouble getting the players to add HR inscriptions but when the 500 HR club became popular and collectible in the late 80s whether individually or as a group the players realized they could make more money by charging for it and Mays and Aaron took advantage of it . Give them credit by limiting their inscriptions ( HR, HoF year , MVP year, AS years, Full name , Nickname ,etc..) they created a mini - rarity for the collectors as opposed to other players with the exception of Joe DiMaggio , who knew what income could be generated by signing limited inscriptions . Joe's was money pure plain and simple not ego .
I really have no idea what is occurring in the market with other players and inscriptions now except that Mays and Aaron have continued their policy .

At Steiner we did several sit down signings with Aaron during my 9+ years there. In private settings he would write 755 or HOF inscriptions but only in small numbers and, yes, for a substantial premium. As he got older he frequently deny doing anything other than straight signatures. Its not uncommon for dealers, who get him on a good day where he is willing to sign inscriptions to pay Aaron 2 or 3x for the added inscription vs a straight signature. He makes his living on doing signings and made far more money post career doing signings and appearances, a lot like Mays did, both are tough inscriptions though May was more accommodating in a private setting so long as he was paid for it.

At this stage of life Aaron likely hasn't done any or very, very few inscriptions in the past few years

These older guys have always had a chip on their shoulder because of how much less their salaries for playing ball vs current stars and even vs many players that played in that era were so they use it as leverage in signing situations to cash in.

Hope that info helps some

2-3x, wow. Explains the premium even on the secondary market. Thanks for the info! I'd love to hear more about your time at Steiner sometime.